Turkey 'implores' Trump to return to table on tariffs

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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey on Friday “implored” U.S. President Donald Trump to return to the negotiating table on tariffs, saying the trade rift between the NATO allies should be resolved through dialogue.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gesture as they talk at the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The announcement accelerated the sell-off of Turkey’s lira currency, already battered by worries about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over the central bank. The lira tumbled as much as 20 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day drop since 2001.

“Repeated efforts to communicate to the U.S. administration that none of the stated criteria driving America’s tariffs are applicable to Turkey have thus far proven fruitless,” Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, we implore President Trump to return to the negotiating table – this can and should be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.”

Trump, outraged by Turkey’s detention of an American evangelical pastor on terrorism charges, said on Twitter he would double duties on Turkish aluminium and steel, to 20 percent and 50 percent respectively.

Turkey said the tariffs were against the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

A spokesman for Ankara’s foreign ministry said it would retaliate against the tariffs as it has done so far. Sanctions and pressure would only serve to harm ties between the two NATO allies, Hami Aksoy also said in a statement.

Turkey wanted issues to be solved through diplomacy, dialogue and good intentions, Aksoy said.

RETALIATION

The United States, the world’s biggest steel importer, imposed tariffs of 10 percent on aluminium and 25 percent on steel in March for imports from a variety of countries. Turkey is the sixth-largest steel exporter to the United States.

Turkey then retaliated by slapping import duties on $1.78 billion worth of U.S. products, including coal, paper, nuts, whiskey, autos, machinery and petrochemicals.

Last week, the Trump administration said it would review Turkey’s duty-free access to U.S. markets, a decision that could impact some $1.7 billion of imports.

Erdogan has cast the sell-off in the currency that has followed the trade row as an economic war and an attempt to undermine Turkey’s economy. On Friday, some of his ministers took to Twitter with the hashtag “#kazanacagiz”, meaning “we will win”.

Trump pointed out on Twitter that the lira was not doing well, but one of Erdogan’s economic advisers, Yigit Bulut, responded that the sell-off in the lira had caused $300 billion in losses in the U.S. stock market.